Alamogordo gifted students get first-hand look into forensic science

Alamogordo Police Det. Jack Jackson talks to a group of elementary school students about forensic science on Friday. (John Bear/Daily News )

Gifted elementary students learned about forensic science from the experts in arson and crime scene investigation and dental forensics at Academy del Sol on Friday.

Paula Peters, a facilitator for the Gifted Education Meeting Instructional Needs Individually (GEMINI) program, was able to coordinate with local law enforcement and forensic experts to teach students in the GEMINI program more about the subject and spark their interest.

Arson investigators with the U.S. Forest Service taught students about how they gather evidence from a fire and how they are able to get footprint molds from fire scenes. Students also learned about forensic dentistry from a local dentist with molds and dental records. The Alamogordo Police Department set up a fake accident scene near Academy del Sol to show students more about their forensic techniques to help solve the cause of accidents.

Peters said she and another facilitator designed the semester's study of forensic science for third- through the fifth-grade students from nine elementary schools in the GEMINI program. She said about 50 students are involved the GEMINI program within the Alamogordo Public Schools district.

"The big thing with Gemini is that we are trying to connect what they learn in school with real life and what is happening in the real world," Peters said. "We want to grab them and capture their interests and imagination because they have skills in math, science and technology."

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She said students this semester were involved with research projects, vocabulary building and learning about different careers in forensic science. The students conducted interviews with experts in the field, and students were able to ask questions and learn from engineers at Holloman Air Force Base during the semester. Peters said at end the semester, each student will create a help-wanted ad for someone in the forensic science field, such an FBI agent or engineer.

"It's all based on career exploration," Peters said.

Members of APD told students about how officers investigate accidents and the dangers of texting while driving.

"They (elementary students) took a poll and a majority of the kids did not think that texting and driving was a problem and shouldn't be a crime," APD Sgt Tracy Corbett said. "We are trying to get the point home on how dangerous texting and driving can be, and the focus of the GEMINI program is crime scene investigation, so we are trying give them a taste of how our detectives would investigate an accident like this that's potentially going to be a crime because texting was involved."

Corbett said students were able to see and ask questions about the fake accident, understand the crime scene mobile unit and older students would drive a course while texting in a go-kart to understand how texting impairs driving abilities.